The best dance ever...

For any So You Think You Can Dance fans out there, if you missed last nights show, you have got to watch this dance! It is amazing- I have already watched it like five times today. Even Tim liked it, and he is not a big fan of watching dance. And if you have not seen So You Think You Can Dance, Wednesday nights on Fox, my friends- 2 hours of wasted time very well spent!

Enjoy!

Ball

I am sure that most fathers dream of their sons excelling in sports, but for Tim I think this dream goes to a whole new level. He often jokes about our kids playing in the NBA, but I know that he is only partly joking- deep down a part of him just longs to see his son/sons playing for the Utah Jazz, becoming the next Jeff Hornacek or John Stockton. I remember how excited he was when Jace's first word was basketball- much better than, say, dad. As with most of Jace's obsessions/phases, the basketball phase didn't last long- he is now much more into playing superhero's and drawing pictures of batman than sports. But fortunately, little Ethan loves balls and is quite the little athlete, so the dream is still alive! Seriously, Ethan has some major skills with the ball! You should see his chest pass- it is incredible! When aiming his little basketball at my head, he hits the target every. single. time. And he has a near perfect swing with his plastic baseball bat, so baseball can be his fallback sport. Yes indeed, we have high hopes of this little guy- if he can just get as tall as his dad or taller he will be a shoe-in for the NBA. We will be sure to give you all some box seats when he signs with the Jazz.

These were taken yesterday, when I found Ethan playing with the basketball in this bookshelf. I thought it was so cute! And if you look at that last shot, he is actually pointing at Tim who is watching basketball trick clips on YouTube and saying 'COOL' (referring to Ethan, not Tim, though Tim was probably thinking that exact word).

And, seeing all the attention Ethan was getting with his cool tricks, Jace was not one to be shown up by a 1 year old! Here he is showing off his improving wall climbing skills- check out that height! With hours of practicing this, every day, I am convinced that it is only a matter of time before he actually starts crawling on the ceiling. I will be sure to get a shot of it when it happens and post it here on the blog. I am quite nervous about our upcoming plane trip because Jace cannot seem to keep from climbing on things. I have been reminding him everyday that he CANNOT climb on the back of the chairs, or on the windows in the airplane this week or the police will GET HIM and put him in jail. Hopefully my scare tactics will work- and we will not have to bail him out of jail on our vacation.

By the way, it is currently 8:30 in the morning and it is already 90 degrees outside!!! We are in for another record hot, humid day! Sheesh, I can't wait to get to Utah on Wednesday. We picked a good week to leave Virginia!

The Heat Is On

Sorry about the long absence, everyone. As you can see from the exotic photos above, we were on vacation in Hawaii. It was soooo beautiful- just look at those crystal clear waters. The kids just loved Honolulu...

BWAHAHAHAH! I WISH!! I am totally kidding. No, my friends, these photos were taken at the only-slightly-less-exotic-than-Hawaii Lake Monticello Main Beach (just a few minutes from our home) on Memorial Day. The water is much browner than it appears in that last photo- definitely not a REAL beach and certainly no Hawaii. But the kids sure didn't care! How I wish I was as easy to please! We originally had plans to go down to Virginia Beach for the weekend, but I ended up shooting a wedding reception on Saturday night (which is a story in and of itself that I will not go into right now!). I think Tim was pretty frustrated with me because I booked all of my weekends up in May/June and he is dieing to go to the beach.

This spring has been amazingly moderate out here, even for Virginia. We have had months of perfect weather with very little humidity- just how I like it! But these last few days have reminded me just how miserable the summers can be out here. Last night I went outside to go for a run and I about suffocated from the humidity- it literally felt like a sauna! I have never sweat so much in my whole life. And this week I have been refinishing some furniture and Minwax and humidity are a bad combination! After spending a day and a half outside, my dressers still were not dry. So I had to put them back in our bedroom even though they are still sticky on the surface. I hope no flies get in our house and land on them because I am sure it would be the death of the poor insects.

The reason we were refinishing the dressers is because I am kind of on a decorating kick right now. These last few weeks we have redone our bedroom and my office. I will post some before and after pictures when I get completely done, but that may not be for a while because I am still having issues with the curtains in my office and we still haven't decided what artwork we want to put above our bed. One of the architects in Tim's building is retiring, and he had a few solid wood bookshelves he was trying to get rid of. They were nothing fancy, but not particle board so I thought I could paint one black to go in my office. So I brought it home and painted it yesterday. But after putting it in my office, the whole room now smells like my grandma's basement- old and musty... Lovely- Minwax fumes in the bedroom and musty fumes in the office. Anyone want to come over to my house for dinner? So I don't know what to do- I washed it off with a damp, soapy cloth before painting it (which is when I first noticed the smell), but I thought that painting over it would take care of it. I didn't paint the back or the bottom, maybe that would help? What about spraying tons of Lysol on it? Or maybe the only solution is to buy new and avoid things that have been sitting in a tight office space for 40 years.

We officially have LESS that a week until we leave for Utah! WAHOO!! We are so ready for a vacation- and I looked at the weather for Utah next week and it is going to be 77degrees and dry- hard to imagine! We especially can't wait to see our families- Jace has not seen his grandparents for a full year! He is so excited- he asks me every morning "Are we going to Utah today?" Sorry bud, hang in there a few more days!

I will try to post at least once more before we leave- last months post count was pathetic!
Until then!

Robot

Yesterday morning Jace came into my room looking like this and said "Look mom, I'm a robot!" I am not sure how having buckets and stacking cups on your head, hands and feet makes you a robot, but I thought it was hilarious anyway! This kid has quite the imagination!

Exhaustion...

Don't let this sweet face fool you... I am sure you think that a boy with such a sweet smile is a perfect little angel. But this boy exhausts me! This last month has been pretty rough for me and Jace. I don't know if it is the constant shrieking("MOOOOOOM!!!! Ethan took my TOOOOOY!"- followed by a thud and wail from Ethan) or the constant DEMAND for attention("Mommy, watch this..." "Mom, what did my cape look like?" "MOOOM, YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT ME!"). And I am not exaggerating when I say constant- I can barely get a 30 second bathroom break in without Jace demanding ALL of my attention. But I am at a loss about what to do about it! On one hand, I feel that giving him 100% of my attention all the time is just ludicrous- he is not the only child in this family and I have things to do sometimes! He needs to learn that he cannot always have attention! But on the other hand, when I don't give him the attention he is demanding, I feel horribly guilty. And it seems kind of crazy to deny him attention just for the sake of teaching him a lesson. It makes me feel cruel. Can you feel my internal struggle? Well, if you can't, let me tell you it is rough! It has gotten to the point where some days the minute I hear Jace's voice in the morning I just want to crawl under my bed and hide- I am just not sure I have the energy for it! Sheesh- 4 year olds are tough! Someone please tell me it gets easier- even if that is a lie! Because if I heard it gets harder, I might just have a full out breakdown. And we are nearing the point when I want to start thinking about adding a third, but I am quite terrified! I just don't know if I am cut out for this motherhood business. And seeing my kids picking up on all my bad habits and imperfections is terrifying! Want proof? Just look at Jace biting on his nails in that last shot- a complete Mandy nervous habit that he has picked up from me. And there are many more, much worse habits.

Okay, now that I have made anyone without kids TERRIFIED to have children, I do have to add that being a mom really is the best thing in the world. It has just been one of those months. And I am sure it will pass... for a while... until another one of those months comes around. And I break down again.

It is a good thing kids are so resilient, huh!

I love these shots- taken at Pleasant Grove last month in front of an old, rusty gargage bin. Perfect boy backdrop, huh! I will post the ones I took of Ethan later.

Some tech info for the photo enthusiasts:
shot with D300, 85mm 1.8 lens, ISO200, 1/800ss, f2.5
In Photoshop, I did a slight levels adjustment (pulling my midtones up), ran a light color action(peta's), a slight S curve, some burning (I am LOVING my burn tool lately!) and a final softlight layer.